Thanks to everyone who is still supporting us. We are still loving writing this. We hope you are too.
Somewhere in the club Ste could hear clattering. The sound came from the far side of the club. Ste thought it came from the main door, but he couldn't be sure. He could hear muffled voices too.
He looked at the quietly growling dog that had taken up position before him. "Human?" he asked, in a hopeful whisper. Nate barked, and Ste somehow knew it meant no. "Vampire?" he tried, knowing the answer.
This time he knew Nate's response was affirmative.
Maybe it was just a clubber who didn't know the club was closed tonight. And were too drunk to realise a locked door meant they were closed. He could hope.
He stayed stock still, listening for whoever was breaking in. A further crash, followed by the sound of the door opening down stairs told Ste that the club was indeed being broken into.
He held as still as he could. He should have paid more attention to Brendan's talents. Could vampires find people more easily than humans? Could they hear hearts beating? To himself, Ste's heart sounded like someone was hammering on steel sheeting. They must be able to hear it, or smell his fear maybe.
Nate was growling softly at the door. "Shh," Ste instructed him, knowing that a small dog and him handcuffed to a desk and with a few pints less blood than usual were not going to win any kind of fight. He used the quietest voice he could. "Do you think you can sneak out? Find Brendan?"
The dog scratched the floor. Ste wasn't sure if it was a yes or a no. He hoped it was a yes.
"Do it," he whispered.
He waved the dog to go, making the chain on the handcuff clinked loudly and he cursed, though the dog must have understood. It was out the door more quietly than Ste could ever have dared to hope.
"Steeeven," sang a voice from lower in the club.
Ste stopped breathing.
"Steeeeeeven," the voice sang. Its tone was deep and rich. It was definitely not Vinnie's.
"Twenty came in and nineteen went out," cooed the voice, "We all know what that means, Steeeeeven."
"Yeah, it means you can finally count up to twenty." answered Vinnie's sulky voice.
Ste heard a noise that sounded like someone being hit.
"No it doesn't, you idiot!"
"Oh! It means Ste's all on his own!" cried Vinnie, "and we can eat him!"
"Shut up!" hissed the other voice, now more irritated than scary, and recognisably Eoghan the ordinary.
"I thought you wanted to pretend we were going to eat him?" said Vinnie.
"Well, yes, but if you say it like that it sounds stupid!" Eoghan complained.
"Right…" said Vinnie, carefully, "so, are we going to pretend we're going to eat him or not?"
"Of course we pretend we're going to eat him, but we need to scare him! Not make it sound like a cartoon!"
"Right," said Vinnie, then shouted, "So, we're going to eat you now, Ste! In a very scary and non-cartoonish way."
"Vinnie, will you just…." If Eoghan had been human, he might have taken some deep breaths at that moment. "Let me do the talking, right? Like Master said."
Ste was sure he heard the same noise Leah made when she was sulking, through shut lips when she folded her arms and turned away from him.
Eoghan cleared his throat.
"Come out, come out, little boy," he sang in his new low, threatening voice. "The monsters are hungry for their dinner!"
Ste stayed as still and silent as possible. However effective or otherwise their words were, Ste knew that Eoghan and Vinnie would have been quite capable of killing him individually. Against the both of them together he stood no chance unless Nate could get the others back in time. So he had to delay them. Stay silent and hope they wouldn't look in the office yet.
He fought to keep his hand still.
"My Master's sent us for you, Steven," cooed Eoghan, quietly. "He wants to drink you slowly, a pint at a time."
"Yeah," said Vinnie, "because he's well scary!"
"He can keep you alive for days, like that," Eoghan said, raising his voice, as though hoping to drown out Vinnie. "You've seen what he can do, Ste. You saw Will's head, the remains of the doctor, the blond girl, the copper in the cellar. That was all his work, his plan. He wanted you to know what this world means. What we can do."
The voice was getting nearer, accompanied by light footsteps. Ste's heart was in his throat. He tried not to let Eoghan get to him, but he couldn't help seeing it all again – Will's head, the body in the bin bags, Macca left on the street, Theresa hanging from the rafters. These people were killers, and blood thirsty ones. What did they want with Ste?
Eoghan paused for effect. The feet stopped, and silence reigned for a moment, framing his next words. "He wanted you to see what Brendan is capable of."
Brendan. Had his exes teamed up just to get back at the vampire for leaving them? Were they targeting Ste because he happened to have Brendan's attention right now?
"No witch this time, Ste," called Eoghan, "there is no escape. Give us the control the witch gave you. Hand it over and we might not have to kill you."
Ste's breath caught in his throat. How on Earth did they know about that? Only Myra had known before today, how could these people have known before she'd breathed a word to anyone?
The voices and feet froze again. For a minute it felt like the whole building had fallen into silence, oppressive and fearful and Ste knew that if he broke it, he would die.
"My Master wants you, Steven," said Eoghan in a warning voice. "And he will get you. It's only a matter of time. And when he does, he'll never let you go. He will suck you dry until there is nothing left."
He let the words ring. Steven's brain was working too hard. It couldn't focus on an escape route with those images in his head – the lifeless bodies, the laughing vampires with some nameless, faceless leader – someone who hated Brendan or adored Brendan so obsessively he was collecting his ex partners. And Ste.
He reminded himself to keep still. It was his only chance.
The smallest of noises suddenly sounded at the far end of the club, at the main door. Ste wished it could be Brendan, but surely Nate wouldn't have found him this quickly. Brendan may be lightning fast, but the dog wasn't. And what if Nate really was just a dog, after all? He might just be saving his own skin.
"What was that?" he heard Vinnie ask.
The Liverpudlian was right outside the door of the office now, so close Ste was certain they must have heard his breathing.
"Probably Master arriving; he doesn't trust you anymore!" said Eoghan.
"Or you!" replied Vinnie, in a vicious hiss.
"That was your fault!" growled Eoghan.
"Wasn't!" said Vinnie, "at least I tried to follow them!"
"Jesus Christ, Vinnie, haven't you noticed that we're in the middle of something here?" Eoghan exclaimed. "We need to find the boy!"
Vinnie harrumphed. "Well, what if that was Brendan or someone?" hissed Vinnie.
"What?" demanded Eoghan.
"That noise?" Vinnie reminded him.
"We saw them leave," insisted Eoghan.
"But they might come back!" replied Vinnie.
Eoghan sighed, "Stay here," he ordered. "Do not do anything. I'll check it out."
One set of footsteps walked away from the office and towards the main door of the club. That left just Vinnie. Ste wasn't sure how much hope he could allow himself.
The door creaked open and Vinnie darted inside and shut it again. He gave Ste a cheeky grin.
"He may think he's proper clever, but he's got a shit sense of smell, and seriously, didn't even notice me throwing that coin," he told Ste in a quiet voice. "God, you still smell amazing, you know!" He climbed onto the desk beside Ste, put his head right next to Ste's neck and breathed his scent in deeply with his eyes closed.
"Er, thanks," said Ste, in a whisper and leaning away from him.
Vinnie made a face. "Oh, Brendan marked you. I was hoping for a taste. Do you think I could have one anyway?"
"Er," said Ste, too scared to answer with the 'you ain't going near me, mate!' he craved to.
Vinnie smiled at him, "Don't worry, maybe Master will let me anyway, you know, when I take you to him."
"Please don't!" pleaded Ste.
Vinnie's smile faded, "Oh, please come! He'll be so impressed if I bring you to him! And it'd be great to see the look on Eoghan's stupid face! And Master'll torture me if I fail again!"
"Well, what'll he do to me?!" Ste demanded, angrily.
"Oh, please Ste!" Vinnie tried, with big disappointed eyes, "he made me stand with my hand on a crucifix for an hour when you escaped!"
"But he wants to kill me!" Ste hissed, furiously.
"Oh, he doesn't want to kill you!" said Vinnie, patting Ste on the head like he was being stupid for having doubts, "he just wants to control you! You know, so that he can control Brendan!"
"But…" said Ste, wondering what on Earth he could say to beg for his and Brendan's freedom.
"He'll just keep you locked up with him, Ste, so you'll have to do as you're told. He's not gonna kill you, because he doesn't want to lose the power over Brendan! He'll just keep you chained to the wall! And he said I can guard you! We can play on the Wii and watch silly films together! I'll get you popcorn and everything! It'll be fun! Don't you want to be my friend?" he stuck out his bottom lip. "I want to be your friend! All Eoghan and that lot want to do is kill people and get Brendan back! It's so boring! I bet you'd be a great friend!"
"What bit of that do you think is gonna make me want to go with ya or be your friend?" Ste snapped, angrily.
"Oh, Steeeee!" moaned Vinnie, again sounding more like a child begging for extra sweets than a vampire. "I'll get us pizza, too, if you want! I can have the delivery boy!"
"Look," said Ste, "Can't you just run away, or something? He can't torture you if he doesn't know where you are!"
Vinnie shook his head, sadly. "He turned me, so he can tell me what to do and I have to do it. I can't stop. Even if it really hurts, like with my hand this morning. All he had to do was order me to hold the crucifix until he said I could let go. My arm was literally on fire! And he wouldn't let me stop! I'm not even allowed to tell anyone his name, or anything. I physically can't. If I try, my mouth won't even make the right movements."
"But Myra saved Brendan!" gasped Ste, "Maybe she could save you, too?"
Vinnie's expression changed from sulky to hopeful. "Really? She might help me escape?"
Ste nodded. He didn't see why not. "But only if you show Brendan he can trust you. Help me get out of here and to somewhere safe."
Vinnie looked suspiciously at the cuff on Ste's wrist. "Oh, did Brendan do that? He always was proper kinky."
Ste tried really hard to ignore that comment. "Can you get it off me?" he asked, trying to pretend he hadn't had a whole new surge of hatred for the vampire in front of him and being unable to ignore how pretty he actually was.
"Yeah, he kept the key over here," said Vinnie, making Ste's stomach twist again with jealousy. The vampire wandered over to one of the filing cabinets on the far side of the room and fished inside, quickly producing a small key on a short chain. "He used to chain me to something then dangle that just out of my reach and watch me squirm. He was amazing when he was in control!"
Vinnie's expression was one of such adoration, he might have been recalling his son's first steps. Ste imagined his head blowing up.
"Can you undo them, please?" he asked in a strained voice. Trying to hide the fact he wanted to ram a stake straight through the vampire's heart.
"Oh, yeah," said Vinnie, unlocking them, and dropping them to the floor, making a loud clattering noise. Ste held in a shout of fury at Vinnie's stupidity.
"What's going on?" demanded Eoghan's voice from far too close.
Ste looked imploringly at Vinnie.
"Remember what you promised!" said the blond vampire, then picked up the cuffs and shot out of the office.
Ste followed at a more human pace and listened at the door.
"Where have you been?" he heard Eoghan demand angrily.
"I found these," announced the blond vampire, "I remembered Brendan using them. Did he use them on you? That one time he actually looked in your direction."
Eoghan's voice showed his annoyance, "Brendan and I shared a very intimate…"
"One-time-shag?" interrupted Vinnie, cheekily. "Did he even bother to find out your name?"
Ste heard Eoghan snarl, "We played a long game of seduction!" he said, bitterly.
"Oh, right," said Vinnie, "you mean it took you ages to get him drunk enough to shag anything, and then a bit drunker so he'd shag you?!"
There was a noise of a body hitting a wall outside, and a vicious snarl from Eoghan. Ste saw his chance. He had to be quicker than he'd ever been.
He made a run for the exit. It was quite a distance from him, across the whole club basically, but the sounds of fighting behind him didn't seem to be abating. Vinnie was very good at annoying people. Ste sprinted for the door. Freedom was there in his reach. He grabbed the handle, shoved the door open, only to be greeted by Nate the dog, somehow at eye-level.
He had a wonderful feeling of relief. Nate had found Brendan, brought him back. Now they could deal with this mess once and for all.
But Nate wasn't sat triumphantly in Brendan's strong arms. He was struggling and whining and squeaking in distress, as small hands held him cruelly by the back of the neck.
"Lost something, did we?" said a familiar voice.
Ste took a step back, unable to believe his eyes.
"I warned you, Ste," said Macca, stepping into the club and shutting the door behind him. "I told you to stay away from Brendan. You didn't listen." He threw the dog to the floor, where Nate curled up on himself in obvious pain, "And so this is where we are. I think it's time we had a little chat in Brendan's office, don't you? I hope you don't mind if I have a bite to eat while we talk."
Macca smiled, and when he smiled he revealed his new set of fangs.
The next chapter is almost ready. If you want it: REVIEW!